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The Lost Logos Hub
This page is meant to keep track of footage of television or movie closing logos that are either lost or rare. It is named for a popular urban legend among logo enthusiasts on forums such as the Closing Logo Group or the CLG Wiki. The world of closing logos has its share of vague memories and urban legends. The biggest myth of all is/was the Columbia Pictures Television "Cokeburst", an alleged variant of the orange half-circled "sunburst" CPT logo (from the 70s and early 80s) that had a byline for the Coca-Cola Company, as the revival of the Torch Lady would in '82. At least 3 people claim to have seen this, and Philly or NYC based reruns of "What's Happening" seem to always come up in the discussion. No video evidence of this has been seen, and any prints of WH reruns that still have the '70s style logo have been said to have the standard version. Most members of the Closing Logo Group have written this off as a myth. Another logo legend involves the Viacom "V of Doom" logo from the mid '70s, which lasted into the mid '80s. One story goes that the Bruce Jenner-hosted "Star Games" from 1985 had this logo appear on a pink background rather than its standard shades of blue. These also includes variants that one had the background flash purple, green and red fast with a black V (known to appear on a Comedy Network airing of The Honeymooners episode "A Man's Pride", a remake of that variant can be seen here ), a variant with a green background and a red "V" with a Santa hat on it with bells ringing at the end, a variant with an orange background and a black "V", and a variant of the videotaped audio with the filmed version's audio. (NOTE: The orange background variant may describe the one seen at the end of Jim Peck's version of "You Don't Say!", as seen here. There is a fanmade spoof logo of a "Christmas" V as well, perhaps this is what caused the belief that there was an actual variant used on TV?) On the other hand, there are logos that have been seen, and have some kind of evidence for their existence, yet they have not been seen on television for a long time, nor have they appeared online. This includes: *'TAT Communications "Rising T.A.T. Star" (1980-82)', which has an animated star rise up to join a boxed "TAT" logo, to "an awful 12-note rising synth theme." It apparently was only seen on select original syndicated reruns of Norman Lear shows, and "CBS Late Movie" airings of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." "Jeffersons" reruns fromthe mid '90s on WGN are also mentioned as having this logo. *'Key Video, orange/green variant (FOUND!) '''Can be found on the Key Video copy of "Footlight Serenade" from the Betty Grable Collection. *'Metro Pictures "Parrot"' - This has been seen in print, but was there an animated/live action version? A logo has been described where the parrot "throws" the letters to "METRO" to complete the logo. This article, on the other hand, mentions a "squawking parrot" : http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/03/the-story-behind-hollywood-studio-logos/#!DeW4m *'MTM Enterprises''' - The well-known television logo of the 1970s had many variants featuring their mascot, Mimsie the cat. Ones that have not surfaced online were for "Paul Sand's Friends and Lovers," which some sources say featured the ribbon circle Mimsie appears in turning upside down. Another show, "Texas Wheelers," has had a number of descriptions. One recalls the company's name appearing over a "live action shot with a cat," while others mention a (most-likely animated) version of Mimsie who shot off pistols. In a situation not unlike the series finale of "St. Elsewhere," a newspaper article recalls the series finale of "Wheelers" ending with Mimsie staggering from behind the circle, as if shot, and falling dead. An online copy of the "pilot" version of "The White Shadow" variant is needed as well (some prints have the usual one, but one has a variant where the letters animate and the ball drops off screen). Also, though we know that the original broadcast of the series finale of St. Elsewhere, ''"The Last One," had the MTM logo in the credits with Mimsie flat-lining, it is widely believed that it never made syndication. But there ARE seemingly two copies of said variant online, one with a network voiceover, one without and with different tracking quality. So this would serve as a clue of the episode being seen in its original form A) twice on NBC, B) at least once in syndication. Confirmation of sources needed. Not pertaining to the footage per se, but the story of what happened to the original credit sequence and why it was changed is unclear. Another MTM variant that has yet to surface online was for the 25th Anniversary of the company, which KRS Logos and CLG Wiki describe as being "on a white background with a black '25,' and a similarly colored MTM under that. The kitten appears in the rounded part of the '5'." But this might have been a print logo only. *'20th Television (at the end of St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues)' - In 2000 or so, Bravo began airing reruns of both MTM dramas. Only this was a short while after News Corp had bought MTM, so viewers were "treated" to a new set of closing credits. Mimsie would no longer be seen at the end of either show, only the 20th Television tower/searchlights logo common to other 20th holdings. Accordingly, the speed of the credits themselves were adjusted to fit in the new logo before the theme music ended. (However, this contributor recalls the ''Hill St. ''music fading out and the 20th logo appearing, fanfare and all. This may be because the MTM logo was heard with the last note of the music. Also, supposedly at least one ''Elsewhere ''episode had the 20th, but you could still hear Mimsie's meow behind the new logo). As always, the series finale of ''Elsewhere ''was "censored" to have the typical style of end credits, but now had 20th on its own. In fact, the last known sighting of this version of either show was on ALN in 2010, when they showed ''St. Elsewhere’s finale with this variant. It has not turned up online or future airings otherwise so far. *'Stretch Films "Banana Man" variant' - It was apparently in 2 episodes of "Courage the Cowardly Dog" but there's no known video of it and the only proof it exists is a picture.The "banana man" has appeared on a TV twice within shorts from the company, but without any mention of the Stretch name. A YouTube video had that logo, but the user was suspended. *'The Blue Marble Company' - Company that produced "The Big Blue Marble." So far not to be found online, though episodes with the logo intact exist in the Paley Center. On a full episode taken from VHS on Vimeo, you can hear the audio from the logo, which has been plastered over by a Century III logo (starts at 22:44 here: http://vimeo.com/36621422). *'"Hawk" Screen Gems "S From Hell" - '''An episode with it exists in Paley, but the logo cannot be located online. Is identical to the common version, except uses an alternate take of Eric Siday's jingle which has shriller notes. Audio once existed online, but seems to have been taken down with the page it was on. *'Weiss-Global Enterprises (Color, short version) - The full-length color logo has been seen online, but a shorter version exists only in the Paley Center at the end of an episode of "Good Morning World." ('''UPDATE: It has also appeared on certain prints of Sins of Jezebel, seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4FhGVBWbY This is an example of the long color version. The short one is just a still of the logo with one buzz from the jingle) *'King World Productions (Eagle/globe logo) - '''Was this used on TV or was it just a print logo? '(KWP Crown) Was there ever a color variant? *'WOR-TV "Red 9" - '''Kind of a placeholder logo in the '80s for the Secaucus, N.J.-based station, perhaps during the transition from WOR to WWOR? *'WNYW "Fox 5 Box" v.2 (2000 or 2001?) - 'Supposedly came between the blue-colored Fox 5 box logo with a narrower "5" and the red variant seen throughout the 2000s. Resembled the latter apparently, except the 5 was different, more thick than it would become? Might have been seen in a Morgan Freeman movie (must remember title). *'Gunther-Wahl Productions (Split-screen version) '- Bingbang32 reported that the theme on spilt-screen credits was a tuba theme with kids-laughing. *'Sandollar (1990?-1994) - We believe this is a screenshot used for the Closing Logos Group Wiki. MORE DESCRIPTIONS COMING SOON! *'Tollin/Robbins Productions (Cousin Skeeter split-screen version)' - COMING SOON! *'Marquee/Tollin/Robbins (The Amanda Show, 2001)' - A different version of the Tollin/Robbins logo, this time featuring "MARQUEE" at the top of the company name, appeared on original airings of certain Nick shows such as The Amanda Show, but is unable to be found due to it becoming plastered very quickly with the regular T/R logo. *'Marquee/Tollin/Robbins (All That, 1999)' - COMING SOON! *'Playhouse Video (1983-1984)' - Looked like the first KV logo from 1983-1984 as seen on which family title. MORE DESCRIPTIONS COMING SOON! *'United Artists Pictures "Blue Light" (with Transamerica byline)' - This is the UA logo from Carrie (1976) with the Transamerica byline. We hopefully believed on 1975's Rollerball and 1976's Rocky. Has not surfaced on YouTube as far as we know, but can definitely be found on the 2001 DVD of Rocky. Only thing is, the jingle from the 1994 logo is used atop the original logo. (Transamerica T with fanfare) The 1968 Transamerica T logo had it's own fanfare. However, it was rarely used on films and if a film had this logo originally now has been plastered by a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures logo or a later UA logo meaning it's next to impossible to find. The logo was reported to have been seen on animated short films by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises such as The Pink Panther when released to theaters and the original release of Yellow Submarine (1968, American prints). The logo is also reported to be on a 1981 Laserdisc release of Carrie (1976) by Magnetic Video Corporation and has been rumored to be on a 1981 VHS by 20th Century-Fox Video of the same film. These home media releases are the only reported/rumored sightings of this version of the logo with the fanfare. The video supplied also has comments that this can be seen on DVD releases of Cotton Comes to Harlem and Cops and Robbers by MGM Home Entertainment. Although another comment for the video claims that on the latter the film's opening theme is heard. The logo itself can be seen on YouTube, but perhaps this refers to proof that it was seen before a movie and not a television show? *'Dick Clark Productions (1973-1977)' - COMING SOON! *'Hanna-Barbera (Johnny Bravo pilot version)' - COMING SOON! *'Morrow-Heus Productions (The Disappearance of Vonie)' - COMING SOON! *'Frederator Incorporated (with Rocko theme, split-screen version)' - COMING SOON! *'Nickelodeon Bumper (AAAHH!!! Real Monsters, 1994)' - COMING SOON! *'Nickelodeon Bumper (Rocko's Modern Life, 1993)' - COMING SOON! *'Tetagram Productions (Joe Bash, 1986)' - COMING SOON! *'Triseme Corporation (A.E.S. Hudson Street, 1977-1978)' - COMING SOON! *'Carolco Pictures (C in Space)' - In 1985 Carolco Pictures debuted their first logo (they had been formed in 1976) and was used from May 22, 1985 to September 4, 1987. The logo was confirmed to be seen on Rambo: First Blood Part II, Angel Heart, and Extreme Prejudice. This logo has been confirmed to be present on the original (likely 1985) VHS release by Thorn EMI Video, the 1991 release by LIVE Entertainment, and the 1995 release by Avid Home Entertainment of the former. All other releases have this logo plastered by Carolco's 3rd logo (Laser Light). It is likely some prints of this film have the logo only to get plastered by another logo as proof by the 1984 TriStar Pictures logo plastering this logo with Carolco's 1985 fanfare intact (TriStar's logo originally appeared before the Carolco logo and is usually removed due to TriStar only distributing the film to theaters originally on behalf of Carolco) on a AMC airing of Rambo: First Blood Part II. On all three films it is possible that this logo does appear on VHS, Laserdisc, and (unlikely) DVD releases by International Video Entertainment, LIVE Entertainment, Avid Home Entertainment, and/or Artisan Entertainment. The logo was rumored to appear on 1980's releases (VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc) of First Blood. This is unlikely as the 1984 VHS by Thorn EMI Video contains the 1980 Orion Pictures logo (Orion originally distributed the film for Carolco) and the 1998 VHS by Artisan Entertainment has Arisan's logo plaster the Orion or Carolco logo from the print. The best place to check would be the original home media releases of the three films mentioned above, along early television broadcasts (especially recordings of said airings) or trailers of Carolco films from the era. On current prints of Angel Heart and Extreme Prejudice have the TriStar Pictures logo. Another question of the logo is that a video was posted of this logo identifying it from 1984 with no description. Prior to the Carolco logo the 1985 Thorn EMI/HBO Video logo is seen fading out. As mentioned above the Carolco logo is not on the 1984 VHS release of First Blood by Thorn EMI Video, could it be possible that on later printings of the film with the 1985 Thorn EMI/HBO Video logo plastering the 1982 Thorn EMI Video logo and the 1985 Carolco Pictures plastering the 1980 Orion Pictures logo? (Flashing C) - It is confirmed to be seen on the Rambo animated television series, the LIVE Entertainment International Video Entertainment release of First Blood, the VHS/trailers of Extreme Prejudic''e, and the 1989 reprint of ''Angel Heart. *'Warner Home Video (Prototype Cheesy Shield)' - A version of the 1986 Warner Home Video logo was found that has a different cloud background than the standard version. There is/was no video of the logo, just a single image. This is often considered to be a prototype version of the logo. Initially it was assumed to be on the original VHS release of Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome before being discovered that the film simply had the standard version. It was then presumed to be on the 1985 VHS of Lost in America only to have the standard version again. Eventually, it was confirmed to be seen on a 1986 VHS reprint of Lost in America. Could this logo have been seen on other VHS or Laserdisc releases/trailers or releases in foreign countries? *'Harvey Levin Productions (The Scales of Justice logo)' - The 1st logo for this company had a smoky gray BG, with a scale of justice in a rectangular frame balanced to the left and with the text "HARVEY LEVIN" and "PRODUCTIONS" shown below, and features a 6-note pizzicato tune later used for the company's famous "I'm a lawyer!" logo. No video for this logo has turned up as of yet. *'Paramount Pictures (''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory variant)' - On original theatrical prints of ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) it was reported here that the 1968 version of the 1953 Paramount Pictures logo (the version that just says 'Paramount' in it's trademark font with a byline that says 'A Gulf+Western Company') was further away than the usual version of the logo. Eventually the film's producer The Wolper Organization was purchased by Warner Communications in 1976 (Wolper was primarily a television producer who occasionally produced theatrical films) and was folded into Warner Bros. Television with the above mentioned film becoming owned by Warner Bros. Pictures. In the late 1970's to early 1980's Warner Bros. reissued the film with their 1972 logo plastering Paramount's logo, this is retained on a 1984 VHS release by Warner Home Video. Most current prints have either the 1972 (rarely), 1984, or 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures or the 1992 or 2001 Warner Bros. Family Entertainment logos. Could any television broadcasts or international prints have the 1953 Paramount Pictures or if any 1971 theatrical prints are still in use today for either. *'Castle Rock Entertainment Television (The Early Lighthouse)' - A year before Castle Rock Entertainment introduced their first movie logo they introduced this logo for their television division. There are two known versions of the logo, one with a copyright stamp for Castle Rock Entertainment dated 1989 and one without copyright information. The is confirmed to have been Heart and Soul (without copyright information) and Julie Brown: The Show (with the information), both were pilot episodes of series that were not picked up, although the former did air on NBC and the latter on CBS. This logo could have also been seen on the pilot episode of The Ed Begley, Jr. Show on CBS, the Seinfeld pilot episode "The Seinfeld Chronicles" on NBC (Julie Brown: The Show aired two months after "The Seinfeld Chronicles") and Homeroom on ABC. Although Homeroom had it's first episode air on September 16, 1989 (The Closing Logo Wiki claims the logo ended use on September 4, 1989, with a question mark next to it. The Closing Logos Wiki states that the next logo began use on July 5, 1989 meaning both The Ed Begley, Jr. Show, the Seinfeld pilot and Homeroom could have had the next logo. The logo was also rumored to have been on the NBC series Ann Jillian, only for it to turn out that the 1989 logo is used. The two shows confirmed to have this logo have not gotten much, if any, exposure since their initial airings, outside of recordings of each broadcast. On DVD releases of Seinfeld by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment the next logo is used on "The Seinfeld Chronicles". The best place to find this logo would be to find recordings of the original broadcasts of the pilots. *'Sony Kids Video' - The 1st logo for this company has an orange-pinkish background filled with brown silhouettes of kids, we see a blue upside down triangle with the familiar Sony logo on top of it. There is also a yellow ribbon-like rectangle over the triangle with the black words "KIDS' VIDEO" (with jumbled letters) and a huge black music note between them. It is confirmed to be seen on the Sony Kids Video print of Snow White, but no video for this logo has been turned up yet. A video of it was uploaded once, but was taken down. *'TOY Productions (Prototype)' - It is confirmed to be seen on the What's Happening S2 episode "Rerun Gets Married". No video of the logo has been found yet. *'Edelman Productions (1998-2006)' - A logo that appeared at the end of certain HGTV shows such as pre-2006 episodes of Curb Appeal and Landscape Smart. Because many of HGTV's pre-2010 series cannot be found online very easily, it has been lost for many years. A low-quality upload of the logo, however, appears at the end of this upload of a 1999 episode of Landscape Smart. *'United Media Productions (Red, White, and U)' - In 1980, United Media Productions debuted their first logo on a white BG, we see a half red, half blue square with a lowercase "u" cote-out of it. "United Media Productions" in red, is displayed below, along with the byline "A Scripps-Howard Company" below it in blue. It was seen on Garfield in the Rough. No video for this special has been turned up yet. *'Film Roman (The Pen)' - In 1984, Film Roman used its first logo over a light blue background, we see the text "ROMAN" in white with yellow outlines with "film" in a red cursive font in the "O". The yellow letter "A" is seen above and the word "PRODUCTION" in yellow is seen below the logo. The bottom of the "F" extends downward past the inside of the "O", looking kind of like a pen. It is confirmed to be seen on Garfield: His 9 Lives and the 1st season of Garfield and Friends. Reruns of G&F plastered with the fireworks logo. It is recently seen on the VHS tape of G:H9L special and the DVD release of G&F: Volume One. (3D Fireworks) - It is confirmed to be seen on the 1999 TV movie Johnny Tsunami. No video for this logo has been turned up yet. *'WGBH ("Flash of Doom" Japanese variant)' - Presumably used on Japanese dubs of shows produced by the PBS station in Boston, Massachusetts, this variant featured the WGBH text with no outline in yellow on a blue background, with an orange glow behind it. No video for this variant has turned up as of yet. *'Fox Toons Interactive' - We believe there's the logo is seen on Fox Kids Video titles, mostly Dr. Seuss titles such as The Cat in the Hat. Is there probably an animated variant? More descriptions coming soon. *'Laurelwood Entertainment' - In 2002, Laurelwood Entertainment introduced its first logo. Its logo describes trees with circles with company name below. We believe it's seen on the 2002 Lingo revival on GSN. *'Fox Kids Video (old logo)' - In 1994, Fox Kids Video debuted their logo. It's seen probably on front covers of old VHS tapes from Fox Video, like in Bobby's World, The Tick, and Eek! The Cat. There are two versions of this images:Fox Kids Video old logo #1 and Fox Kids Video old logo #2. Were there probably animated logos for this company before 1997? *'Paramount Home Video (Mountain Silhouette variant)' - Paramount Home Video (now known as Paramount Home Media Distribution) debuted their second logo in July 1980and used it through 1982 and was briefly brought back in 1984. The logo itself is based off of the rarely used 1977 Paramount Television Service logo (Paramount was attempting to create their own television network and this logo would have been an ident for the network). The Closing Logos Wiki claims that there was a variant (to quote the page) "On some tapes, after the logo is finished, the stars roll and fly away". There is no known footage of this variant. The logo in general (meaning it could have been the standard version) was seen on VHS and Betamax releases from the era of Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!), Death Wish, Escape from Alcatraz, Friday the 13th, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Charlotte's Web, along with 1984 Hi-Fi re-releases of early releases such as Downhill Racer and Death Wish. Could this rumored variant be seen on any of these releases? *'MGM/United Artists Distribution Co. logo' - In August 1981 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and United Artists Pictures merged to become one studio. After they merged United Artist's distribution service became the MGM/UA Entertainment Co. However, early posters for MGM and United Artists films (such as Rocky III) have credit for a different distribution company called the MGM/United Artists Distribution Co. The trailer for Rocky III features a logo (starts at 2:22) that says "Released thru MGM/UA". This logo is likely the logo used for the MGM/United Artists Distribution Co. Rocky III contains the 1982 United Artists Pictures logo at the beginning and an in-credit logo for the MGM/UA Entertainment Co. (simply the print logo for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures with MGM/UA Entertainment Co. underneath). The most likely reason for this was that a print logo for the MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was ready by the film's release on May 28, 1982 while the trailer didn't have the logo available at the time. Could the logo have been seen on other trailers for MGM and United Artists films between August 1981 and May 1982 or get seen on original theatrical prints of the studios' films? *'Lorimar-Telepictures (Linewriter/Flying Parallelograms)' - In early 1986, Lorimar-Telepictures debuted their first logo, which is a combination between the 1981-1986 Lorimar Motion Pictures logo and the 1983 Telepictures Flying Parallelograms logo. It is hardly confirmed to be seen on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, Love Connection, the 1986 episodes of the 1985 version of Catch Phrase, early-mid 1986 episodes of Dallas, Knots Landing, The Peoples' Court, and Falcon Crest, the original first season of Valerie when aired on NBC (later in reruns under the title The Hogan Family), the SilverHawks pilot episode "The Origin Story" and the early S1 episodes of ThunderCats (may be intact on the DVD of this series...) *'Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films (Short version) '- It is confirmed to be seen on a episode of Soldier of Fortune, Inc. *'Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment (Bubbles/Pocket)' - COMING SOON! *'OET': It is said that "On a blue background with scrolling blue objects, the letters O, E and T fade in a red Arial font. We hear some reverse synthesizer music playing in the background." No image or video evidence has turned up yet and there is no proof if this is real or not. *'Viacom (V in the Big City)' - On the 1986 reunion special of the television series The Honeymooners there is Viacom logo that uses the same V design from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th logos, only this time it is on a background of a city with several lights on in the windows and bright stars. This special has never had an official home media release nor has there been any (known) broadcasts recently. Could this logo be seen if the special gets reaired? If there is an official release by CBS Home Entertainment it will likely have a later Viacom, Paramount Television, CBS Paramount Television or CBS Television Distribution logo. The Closing Logos Wiki claims that bootleg releases do exist of the special with the original Viacom logo intact. Was this logo seen any place else? (Special Delivery) A logo was used by Viacom from 1984 to 1986. This logo has the words "Special" and "Delivery" zooming from the sun and stopping on a golden winged emblem with "From Viacom" stopping with them, with the Viacom V logo also appearing underneath. The logo has been confirmed to be on The Twilight Zone Silver Anniversary Special from 1984 and is rumored to be on 1980's prints of specials produced by Rankin-Bass Animated Entertainment and television movies from the era, although the latter two are unconfirmed. A comment for this video claims that the logo was seen on a 1987 print of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. There has been no known home media or recent television broadcasts with this logo intact. *'Four D Productions (Blue shade variant)' - COMING SOON! *'Ruby-Spears modified 1981 logo - '''Seen on '90s reruns of ''Thundarr the Barbarian ''at least...the logo footage is slowed down to fill out the jingle while avoiding jumping to the next screen which shows the "forbidden" Taft byline. *'Buena Vista Film Distribution Co./Walt Disney Productions 1981 logo''' - I believe it is confirmed to be seen on Condorman. Category:Lost TV